Weft end parting and holding devices



Dec. 19, 1961 c. M. BARTLETT WEFT END PARTING AND HOLDING DEVICES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 1, 1958 Dec. 19, 1961 c. M. BARTLETT WEFT END PARTING AND HOLDING DEVICES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 1, 1958 United States Patent Ofiice 3,013,587 Patented Dec. 19, 1961 poration of Delaware Filed July 1, 1958, Ser. No. 745,960 4 Claims. (Cl. 139-263) This invention is a further improvement in the weft patter of my companion U.S. Patent No. 2,973,017, granted February 28, 1961.

The invention relates to the weft parters regularly employed in automatic weft replenishing looms to cut the old weft at the moment of replenishment. This is done to enable it to be withdrawn from the shuttle and to clear the shuttle eye for the admission of the new weft being inserted into the shuttle, and to dispose of the portion of the old weft extending from the selvage of the cloth to the shuttle.

This latter portion of the old weft end must be gripped and held to prevent its being carried or wafted into the shed by the motion of the shuttle, lay, or picker, as well as to present it to the temple weft parter so that it may be trimmed off at the selvage when it reaches this device in the course of the advance of the cloth during the weaving being effected with the succeeding weft supply.

Hence the weft parter of conventional type, employing scissor-type blades to cut the Weft, is provided with an additional fixed blade-like element, usually made of fiber, which is spring-pressed fiatwise against the side of the movable scissor-blade so that the weft will be jammed and wedged between the moving blade and this element and thus held at the side of the cut nearer the cloth. The grip of this holding means is maintained until the weft parter again performs its cutting function at the next weft-replenishing action, for proper working of the temple weft parter.

However, the scissor-action thus used in gripping and wedging the old weft end between the fiber-holding blade and the side of the cutting blade frequently breaks fine weft counts during this shearing motion, even though the adjacent edge of the steel moving blade is always dulled or rounded and the opposing edge of the holding blade usually similarly formed. Much trouble is experienced in this regard when Fiberglas weft is being woven since the substance is so brittle that it cannot withstand the right-angle bending of the weft around the holding blade inherent in this type of grip. Elastic weft will pull out because it is under tension. In each case, the weft end escapes to tangle with the working Weft and enter the shed to make trouble and injure the quality of the fabric, as well as to require eventual removal by hand. The tension of the spring pressing the fixed, moving, and holding blades together requires to be nicely adjusted to the size, strength, and character of the weft being used, as the pressure needed to hold a coarse Weft securely against escape must be eased for fine weft, to keep from cutting the latter at the gripping point. Further, wear of the fiber blade through repeated gripping of the weft grooves the blade so that it no longer holds securely, and the end slips away. Disassembly and replacement of the fiber blade are then required.

To provide new and improved holding and cutting means obviating the dimculties and avoiding the drawbacks of the prior devices, I have in my companion patent disclosed'a structure which discards the scissor-type of wedging grip, and provides instead a pincers-type of clamping action between elements both of which move in the same plane and meet squarely in jaw fashion to grip and hold the weft end between them without introducing any right-angle or other angular bend in the weft end between the gripping point and the selvage,

and thus cannot shear or break the weft. This type of grip enables it to hold yarns of all sizes, strengths, and character with equal facility and without weakening the yarns, and further without adjustment or wear of the jaws. The clamping action can never lag behind the cutting action, as often occurs with consequent escape of the end in prior types, nor is the entry space between the cutting blades narrowed by the advanced position of the fiber holding blade intended to be maintained in the prior type to effect gripping before cutting. Instead, the clamping elements are as Wide or Wider apart than the cutting blades when the weft enters, but one of the clamping elements outdistances the moving cut ting blade to complete the grip well before cutting occurs. The two clamping jaws thereafter move with the cutting blade at the same speed as the latter, one jaw being pivoted on and carried by the moving cutting blade into edgewise contact with the other jaw and moving the latter, and thus there is no tendency for the weft yarn to reeve through the clamping jaws when first engaged by the cutting blades and before the cut is completed. it was this reeving which in the case of the prior devices using stationary fiber-holding blades caused the grooving of the fiber blade. The intensity of the gripping action increases as the cutting blade reaches and passes the cutting point.

This device of my companion patent requires six main parts for the thread guiding, holding, and cutting functions. That is, there is a fixed cutting blade, at movable cutting blade, and a movable holding or clamping blade, against which the yarn is clamped by a fourth part, a toggle or gripping jaw pivoted on the movable cutting blade. In addition there are two outside elements, the spring presser blade and the cover plate, between which these four elements are confined to hold the cutting blade in scissor-like lateral contact and cutting relation with'the fixed blade.

I have found it possible to apply the principle of my companion patent of clamping the thread between the elements having relative movement in the same plane and meeting squarely in jaw fashion, to an even simpler construction which utilizes only five parts in the cutting and holding structure proper, only two of which move, instead of using the six of my earlier device. Thus the holding or clamping blade is eliminated, and the toggle or gripping jaw is instead fnlcrumed on the fixed cutting blade to lie in the plane of the latter and clamp the thread against the square or transversely extending shearing edge of the fixed cutting blade, under the urging of a spring mounted on this fixed blade. The toggle or gripping jaw, thus urged into gripping relation with the bottom edge of the fixed cutting blade, is normally held away from and in non-gripping relation with the shearing edge of the fixed blade, by being depressed by the movable cutting blade so long as the latter is open. When the movable blade starts its cutting movement, the toggle or gripping jaw is allowed to engage the edge of the fixed cutting blade under the impulse of its spring, through and in advance of the movement of the movable cutting blade, thus gripping the thread before it is cut between the two cutting blades and holding it until the thread cutter is again called into action with ensuing lowering of the movable cutting blade.

Other aims of the invention, and the manner of their attainment, are as will be made plain in the following description. 7

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a left-hand side elevation of the improved weft holder and parter.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of the same, without the supporting bracket and the actuating arm.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view showing the elements of the novel weft holder and parter.

FIGS. 4 to 6 are left-hand side elevations showing the holding and cutting blades in open, closed, and cutting relation, respectively, with the cover plate removed.

The novel device is illustrated in combination with the weft holder and parter of Urquhart Patent No. 2,676,- 620, which as here comprises a carrier I mounted to slide back and forth on guides 7, 9, mounted by bracket 11 on the transferrer stud 17 of the weft-replenishing battery of an automatic loom. This carrier as usual stands normally forward out of range of the shuttle-box parts, being moved rearward into action by the actuator 81, when the spent bobbin in the shuttle is to be replaced, to insert the cutting and holding blades into the slots in the shuttlebox front wall and in the shuttle to seize and part the weft. When the carrier 1 is driven forward by engagement of a hunter screw (not shown) in the lug 67 with the shuttle-box front wall, the cam path 63 formed by the hooked end 64 on guide 9 moves the movable blade of the patent between the fixed cutting blade and the fixed fiber-holding blade thereof, to part and hold the weft.

As herein shown, the new holder and cutting devices replace the entire assembly of fixed and moving blades and their weft guide and presser spring. The fixed cutting blade 12 is of more or less customary shape, with a straight cutting edge, but is made much thicker than usual so as to provide adjacent its cutting edge a bottom surface 13 or shearing edge which is flat and of considerable transverse extent, against which the weft thread is to be clamped and held. At the forward end of its surface 13 is formed a part-circular notch 15, forming a caring for the end 17 of a toggle or gripping jaw 19 having a straight and transversely fiat gripping surface 21 conforming to the surface 13 of fixed blade 12. The pivot or hinge provided by the engagement of pintle 17 within bearing allows the opposed surfaces 13 and 21 to come into gripping relation with each other to hold the weft thread as indicated hereinafter. Urging the toggle or gripping jaw 19 into full-length contact with edge 13 is a leaf spring 23 mounted in a slot 25 in fixed blade 12, having an upturned end 27 occupying an eye 29 in the blade to prevent the spring moving endwise. The free end of this spring is turned up and hooked around the hump 30 on the toggle 19 to hold the toggle in its pivotal notch 15, and continuously urges the toggle 19 toward the edge 13 of the fixed blade, by pressing upward against the bottom edge of the toggle at and about the hump 30 thereon.

As customary, the fixed blade 12 is mounted on the carrier 1 upon a screw 31 by means of a hole 33, with a stud 35 fixed in the carrier extending through a notch 37 in the front end of the blade to hold the blade from rotation on the screw.

The movable cutting blade 41 fits against the far side of fixed blade 12, being pivoted by its hole 43 upon screw 31. A slot 45 receives stud 35, to let the blade rock about the screw 31 when actuated by engagement of a roll or cam follower 47, on a stud 49 fixed in the forward extension of movable blade 41, with the cam path 63 on guide 9.

When the weft parter is moved rearwardly by actuator 81 to go into action, movable blade 41 is depressed by the cam and cam follower, as shown in FIG. 1, and engagement is effected between the descending rearward portion of blade 41 and the toggle or gripping jaw 19, in a manner which swings toggle 19 about its pivotal point 17 downwardly away from the coacting gripping surface 13 of fixed cutting blade 12, into the position shown in FIG. 4. As there shown, the toggle or jaw 19 is opened as widely from the fixed blade 12 as is the moving blade 41, and this leaves ample space between the now opened cutting blades 12 and 4-1 for entry of the weft thread when the weft parter is introduced into the shuttle during the weft replenishing action. A suitable means for interconnecting toggle 19 and blade 41, with provision for relative motion, by a portion on the toggle overlapping the blade 41 is shown in FIG. 3, comprising a small stud 51 having its reduced shank fixed in hole 53 in toggle 19, the stud projecting laterally into the plane of movable blade 41 so as to be struck by the descending blade and thus to swing toggle 19 away from blade 12. Stud 51 is received in a notch 55 in the movable blade 41, to avoid the need to increase the vertical extent of toggle 19 just to hold the stud 51. This is the normal idle or waiting position of the weft parter, as shown in FIG. 6. Spring 23 is in its least stressed relation during the idle period.

When the weft parter is moved forward by the impact of the lay on the hunter (not shown), cutting blade 41 rises as cam 63 depresses follower 47. But the rear portion of toggle 3.9 swings upward at about twice the speed of blade 41, under the impulsion of spring 23, the stud 51 rising as fast as the notch 55 does. Thus as shown in FIG. 5 the gripping surface 21 of the toggle grips the weft yarn against surface 13 of fixed blade 12 long before the blades close on the yarn and the moving cutting blade 41 cuts this yarn between its shearing edge 57 and the cooperating shearing edge 13 of the fixed blade.

The cutting action, it will be understood, takes place between the proximate edges or right-angled corners of the surfaces 13 and 57 of the fixed and moving blades respectively, as they assume the relation shown in FIG. 6, the toggle or gripping jaw 19 remaining at rest and pressed firmly against the surface 13 during and after the upward movement of surface 57 which effects the cutting.

The usual pressers 59, 61, are mounted non-rotatably on the carrier 1 by screw 31 and stud 35, and serve to press the two blades toward each other into sure shearing relation. As usual, the pressers have square ends 65 serving as guides or stops for the weft entering between the open blades.

While I have illustrated and described a certain form in which the invention may be embodied, I am aware that many modifications may be made therein by any person skilled in the art, without departing from the scope of the invention as expressed in the claims. Therefore, I do not wish to be limited to the particular form shown, or to the details of construction thereof, but

What I do claim is: l. A weft parter for automatic looms having in combination a carrier, relatively moving cutting blades thereon, a jaw pivoted on one blade adapted to clamp the weft against the shearing edge of such blade, spring means urging the jaw into clamping relation to the blade,

and means interconnecting the jaw and the other bladecausing the latter to hold the jaw open as wide as such other blade is opened until this other blade moves, and thereafter permitting the jaw to advance at a faster rate than this other blade and to clamp the weft against the blade on which the jaw is pivoted, before the cutting blades cut the weft.

2. A weft parter for automatic looms having in combination a carrier, relatively movable cutting blades thereon, and a weft-holding jaw moving in the plane of one of these blades to grip the weft against such blade, the jaw being pivoted to the latter blade and having a portion extending into the plane of the other blade.

3. A weft parter according to claim 2, in which a spring presses the jaw toward the blade to which it is pivoted, and the approach of the jaw thereto is governed by the movement of the other blade.

4. A Weft parter for automatic looms having in combination a carrier, relatively moving cutting blades thereon, and a jaw pivoted on one blade adapted to clamp the weft against the shearing edge of such blade and in its open position spaced from the shearing edge by substantially the same interval as the other blade and References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Turner et a1. July 30, 1929 6 McAdams Sept. 19, 1939 Miller Sept. 21, 1943 Dyjak Apr. 13, 1954 Urquhart Apr. 27, 1954 Consoletti June 21, 1955 

